Deb, you will never cease to amaze all of us. Just when one had thought that all existing pictures of this exotic hybrid liveried beauty had been exhausted, you come up with yet another one, this time, in my then, and current home-base. Thanks a lot, you just made my day...for many days to come. Do you have any other details of this picture? Ramp photography was frowned upon then even more than today, was this a part of an official photo-shoot for the then relatively new IGIA T2? Or did you scan this in from a magazine picture, where it came as a part of a photo-shoot, where the photographer had explicit ramp permissions? Or were you the photographer, with as much of enthusiasm as you have now, if not more! Thanks once again, this is a very rare find! Sumantra.

Glad you enjoyed that - I knew you would ! No, I wasn't the photographer, nor was it part of an official photo-shoot, and I am unsure how the original photographer had ramp access.
Regardless, this is the only pic of her at DEL that I've come across thus far._________________

Sumantra, no more AI IL-62M treasures for you...yet; but since we spoke about V2-LEO in here, I thought you might be interested to see Lockheed's initial pitch to Air India for the L1011. This was way before V2-LEJ/K/O were leased from Caribjet- check out the date on the front cover.

Sumantra, no more AI IL-62M treasures for you...yet; but since we spoke about V2-LEO in here, I thought you might be interested to see Lockheed's initial pitch to Air India for the L1011. This was way before V2-LEJ/K/O were leased from Caribjet- check out the date on the front cover

Wow, Feb'78! 747237, trust you to come up with such gems. This is indeed an extremely rare document, since it was a sales pitch to AI, and was for extremely restricted circulation alone. The contents are also quite exciting for me: the comparison of the B742 with the DC-10-10 (why, I wonder: the DC-10-30 was already out, but Delta may not have had it then. I remember having done a DEL-CPH trip on SAS's DC-10-30 in 1978: I have very pleasant memories of both the bird, as well as the trip).

Now since you have access to these gems, you would also perhaps know the inside story of AI's fleet augmentation. 1978 signified the troubled times for AI, and that time, the airline had 707s and 742s. The Airbus A300/A310 would come later. The AI think-tank would have obviously considered both the trijets: the DC-10 and the Tristar, both programmes which had some troubled histories, in favour of the twin-engined A300/310s. Can you thow more light on this?
Thanks once again, Sumantra.

The AI think-tank would have obviously considered both the trijets: the DC-10 and the Tristar, both programmes which had some troubled histories, in favour of the twin-engined A300/310s. Can you thow more light on this?

I think that is exactly it - the troubled histories of the DC-10 and the Tristar; that and I believe Airbus giving AI a better financial deal._________________

Sumantra, thought you might find this interesting ...... Decals have recently been released for your favorite bird. You just might see an Air India IL62M CCCP-86512 model in 1:144 scale soon.

This is a real delight, 747-237! How do you manage to keep track of rare aircraft in rarer liveries, even in model form, in addition to rare pictures and descriptions? This is well and truly amazing. I also trust that you have already placed your order for one of these lovely birds, which looked interesting in the hybrid livery. Please send us a picture when this rare bird graces your shelves, and collection.
Thank you once again! One of these days, I am sure we will see an interior shot from you, and of the people who served aboard this plane!
Cheers, Sumantra.

Sumantra, thought you might find this interesting ...... Decals have recently been released for your favorite bird. You just might see an Air India IL62M CCCP-86512 model in 1:144 scale soon.

This is a real delight, 747-237! How do you manage to keep track of rare aircraft in rarer liveries, even in model form, in addition to rare pictures and descriptions? This is well and truly amazing. I also trust that you have already placed your order for one of these lovely birds, which looked interesting in the hybrid livery. Please send us a picture when this rare bird graces your shelves, and collection.
Thank you once again! One of these days, I am sure we will see an interior shot from you, and of the people who served aboard this plane!
Cheers, Sumantra.

Thanks Sumantra. Sadly, I doubt I'll be getting a model of 86512 anytime soon. These decals are designed for plastic kit models that need assembly. It would necessitate me finding a 1:144 scale IL62M model, getting these decals, and then applying them. I am pretty useless when it comes to assembling models (My first post on this forum {incidentally, this was #7000} was inquiring if someone could build me an Indian Air Force AN-12 model that my Dad flew; and I still am nowhere close to doing it myself).

As for interior pictures while she was with AI, I wonder if any exist (I have seen pics of her flightdeck while in SU service). My fondest memory in regards 86512 was looking at my Dad's broadsheets from Air India operations, and asking him if he could operate a Moscow flight, so that I could fly aboard her. Good times !_________________

iflytb20 and 747-237: we eagerly look forward to pictures of the scale model in the hybrid livery! Settle your personal debts, but please send pictures to us as well! It is a shame that the Il-62M operated from Delhi, my base then, but with the photography restrictions around, I could not see even a bit of her while she operated, and I was grounded most of the while, then.
Cheers, Sumantra.

I got the kit today. Do you want me to post the pics here or in a separate thread with the progress pictures?

Wonderful, Captain! While I would like them right here, I guess the moderators would decide whether to put it in `Aviation Hobby' or not. Perhaps they could make an exception, given the nature of the rarity we re talking about, here!
Cheers, Sumantra.

Someone put together the model in full AI colors. Interestingly enough, he has a link to this thread, put up on another forum....guess where he got details from. Well done !

Sheer eye-candy. 747-237: can you give us more details about this model-builder, and the fictitious registration, since VT-DJJ was the registration of the ill-fated Gauri Shankar, a B707-437 operating AI 403. This brings back many sad memories of that morning, taking the newspaper in my hands, and seeing a picture of this ghastly sight.
Cheers, Sumantra.

Someone put together the model in full AI colors. Interestingly enough, he has a link to this thread, put up on another forum....guess where he got details from. Well done !

Sheer eye-candy. 747-237: can you give us more details about this model-builder, and the fictitious registration, since VT-DJJ was the registration of the ill-fated Gauri Shankar, a B707-437 operating AI 403. This brings back many sad memories of that morning, taking the newspaper in my hands, and seeing a picture of this ghastly sight.
Cheers, Sumantra.

Someone put together the model in full AI colors. Interestingly enough, he has a link to this thread, put up on another forum....guess where he got details from. Well done !

Sheer eye-candy. 747-237: can you give us more details about this model-builder, and the fictitious registration, since VT-DJJ was the registration of the ill-fated Gauri Shankar, a B707-437 operating AI 403. This brings back many sad memories of that morning, taking the newspaper in my hands, and seeing a picture of this ghastly sight.
Cheers, Sumantra.

Yes, a fantasy model, but a good fantasy
The builder is some guy who goes by "Mike" and apparently lives in LA. That's all I could figure out. But a link to your thread is a compliment, Sumantra _________________

Indeed, it is someone who loves the old livery, and what the Air India of the Golden era stood for. However, the registration brought back many sad memories, and I am quite sure it was not a random choice. The person in question may have had some link with the `Gauri Shankar' disaster.

747-237 wrote:

But a link to your thread is a compliment, Sumantra;)

I just opened the thread. The thread-maker does not deserve the credit that the weaver does, who leaves lovely patterns using the same thread. You have sustained the thread with your incredible skills in pulling out some really rare items. You deserve all the credit.
To quote a Ministry of Textiles statement of an era a few decades back,
``in its warp, it its weft, in its weave...India lives.''
Cheers, Sumantra.

Your reward this time is press reports, as published in "Flight" Magazine, in chronological order. It is close to impossible that anything of the sort was ever reported in the press in India, so we are lucky to have this set of records, that ended with CCCP-86512 flying for Air India. And regrettably, I never found my father's broadsheets / Air India crew newsletters about the Il-62 lease.

You would be interested to know that we might have had an Il-86 instead of an Il-62M !

This is amazing, 747-237. However, the middle news release is not new for me. You may wonder, why. It was 1987. The Festival of the USSR in India was supposed to be on. Gorbachev had come to India himself, and there were some rather pushy-type negotiations by the Soviet authorities to get India to buy Soviet aircraft. The selling pitch then changed to leasing, and...this happened. Watching the sky over Delhi those days was quite interesting. The press in those days (you are absolutely right!) was not that forthcoming, and we got to see quite a few Soviet planes coming in, on the main runway 28. Neither Air India, nor Indian Airlines fell for the bait. I actualyl have quite a few memories from those days. I had also gone to the India Gate lawns to see Gorbachev coming in. It was rumoured that he had come with a few body doubles, and the cavalcade of cars that went in, had one of them carrying the real Gorbachev: we never figured out, which one.
Unlike you, I never kept clippings, or sought them out. But yes, I remember a sales pitch for five planes: the Il-62M, the Il-86 `Soviet Airbus', the Tu-154M, the Tu-134B and the Yak-42. The Tu-204 was also offered as a brand-new plane, from what I remember, in addition to these five proven performers.
The festival of the Soviet Union also saw me going to the National Gallery of Modern Art close-by: this was the first time that famous paintings from the Hermitage Gallery, Leningrad (St. Petersberg/Petrograd today) were exhibited. Sweet memories, thank you for re-kindling them!
Cheers, Sumantra.

The transfer of AI A300s to IC never happened but the scheduling was screwed up big time. For months AI did not bother about the D checks in anticipation that IC would take care of it once it takes over the aircraft. The transfer never happened and the aircraft had to be ferried to Germany for the checks._________________Save Maharashtra!

The transfer of AI A300s to IC never happened but the scheduling was screwed up big time. For months AI did not bother about the D checks in anticipation that IC would take care of it once it takes over the aircraft. The transfer never happened and the aircraft had to be ferried to Germany for the checks.

True. I posted that article because it had some stuff of Sumantra's interest (info about the IL62 lease).

Sumantra, I bet you got excited seeing activity in this thread - sorry my friend, no new pictures. _________________

Couldn't believe my eyes when I chanced upon this thread! A hidden gem!

747-237 and Sumantra- thanks a lot for bringing back the good old memories.

Though I have never flown but I had friends who did SVO- DEL run on AI IL-62 during my time in Russia in the mid nineties.

Closest I came when I made a booking for SVO-DEL-CCU rtn by visiting Air India office in central Moscow. I still remember the building also housed Air Algerie, Air Liban, LOT polish Airlines and many other USSR friendly airline offices. Sadly, my plan changed and couldn't fly on AI. Not long after that I heard that AI stopped flying this particular route.

Thought I should share this with you. Bought this one from SVO Duty Free area in 1996. Paints peeling off..._________________Tally Sheet:34 Countries ||40 Aircraft types ||54 Airlines ||67 Airports

Wow, Samir-da...I really implore you to put all your memories down, from your Soviet Union days, and those exotic visits and routings which have taken you all around the world. A Russian miniature...hmm...
Cheers, Sumantra.